The British bank HSBC has apologised to its customers for a leak from a Swiss branch of the bank.
A former IT employee, Herve Falciani, stole bank data on the accounts of 24,000 customers, which he passed on to the French tax authorities.
It was already known that information had been leaked, but the bank initially said it only concerned “less than ten customers”.
The bank says it is not just French customers that have been affected. The former employee sold information on German account holders for two and a half million euros.
The matter has raised tensions between Switzerland and France, but the two countries have now settled their differences. France has returned the stolen information and promised not to pass on information to other countries.
HSBC says risks cannot be ruled out, but it is always working on improving security.
HSBC building in London
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